01Jan15

Brazil's Rousseff vows to restore economic growth in 2nd term

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who kicked off a second term Thursday,
vowed that restoring economic growth will be a priority of her new
administration.

"Brazil is determined to resume growth," said Rousseff in her first speech to
the parliament, adding that "the first steps of this journey are an overhaul of
public accounts, increasing domestic savings, beefing up investments and
improving productivity."

Her government, she said, would launch its third economic growth
acceleration plan and a second infrastructure investment plan to boost joint
public- and private-sector initiatives.

The president said she was committed to creating a more favorable
environment for business by cutting red tape, promoting economic stability,
prioritizing inflation control and fiscal discipline, and ultimately recovering the
confidence of both labor force and business owners.

Meanwhile, Rousseff promised not to sacrifice her government's social
programs to improve the economy.

"We are going to prove that you can cut spending while making social gains,"
she said, highlighting the importance of the programs during her first four
years in office.

"In my first term, we overcame extreme poverty, but ending misery is just the
beginning. We have new goals. It's time to improve what's working and do
what the people expect of us," said the president.

Rousseff also promised to embark on an anti-corruption crusade in response
to a multibillion-dollar graft scandal engulfing state-run oil and gas giant
Petrobras.

"Petrobras is Brazil's most strategic company," she said. "We are determined
to punish those responsible without weakening the firm."

She said she would promote a national pact against corruption in the political
class and the private sector as well.

On external exchanges, Rousseff said her foreign policy would center on
South America, particularly on strengthening relations with members of the
Southern Common Market and the Union of South American Nations.

Brazil would keep on promoting ties with other Latin American and Caribbean
countries as well, she added.

Strengthening South-South cooperation will also take center stage, said the
president, adding that Brazil stands ready to push forward ties with countries
especially in Africa, Asia and the Arab world.

Rousseff stressed the importance of the BRICS mechanism, which groups
Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, and vowed to work with BRICS
partners to further boost cooperation in trade, science and technology, and
other areas, and step up efforts for the establishment of a new development
bank and a contingency reserve arrangement.

She also stressed the need to improve ties with the United States, given its
political and commercial importance, as well as with the European Union and
Japan.

Brazil is the world's seventh largest economy, though its economic growth has
slowed down in recent years.

According to Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega, the country's economic
growth rate in 2014 was expected to be a scant 0.2 percent, far below the
government's initial forecast of 2.5 percent.

Rousseff was re-elected in October for another four-year term. In January
2011, she took office as the first female president in this largest South
American country.

[Source: Xinhua, Brasilia, 01Jan15]

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